…was the title of an early seventies album, now a collectable classic, recorded by some good friends of mine, the very excellent Water Into Wine Band. Round of applause, please, for Bill, Trevor, Ray and Pete. But at the close of the third day’s play it looked as if Australia would have a mountain to scale in cricketing terms, not just a hill. Don’t it feel good to say it!
The instances of teams chasing a total of over three hundred in the final innings of a Test match are few and far between. It’s become a guide for captains as an approximate point of safety. Equally well, each country remembers only too painfully the occasions when it’s come out second in such a chase.
An instance at Lords which still stings came in 1984 when the West Indies were the visitors. Through the seventies, eighties and nineties the English team were on the wrong end of a fearful battering by West Indies fast bowling attacks, but in this match they were faced by a slightly more benign prospect, insofar as after the initial spearhead of the terrifyingly skiddy-quick Malcolm Marshall and the towering, remorseless Joel Garner, the backup bowling was merely adequate. Nevertheless a first innings total of 286 by England was below-par, and even for that they owed much to Graeme ‘Foxy’ Fowler’s century. Marshall was the destroyer with six wickets. However the powerful West Indies batting managed only 245 in reply. Ian Botham had one of his great days as an England bowler, taking eight of the ten wickets for a personal cost of 103. Like Flintoff today, captains would turn to Botham for inspiration: he could make things happen from nowhere.
And England were grateful to him for his batting when it was their turn again. He scored 81 quickly in the context of the match, and with Allan Lamb making a century, at the close of the fourth day England were well-poised on 287 for 7 wickets.
Consider for a moment. That means they were already 328 to the good with three wickets in hand. They must have thought themselves quite safe. The pitch was holding together very well, even maybe improving, but no side had scored at much more than three and a half runs an over. However, the England captain, David Gower exercised caution – unnecessary caution in the eyes of some watchers. He batted on a little while on the Tuesday morning, declaring at 300.
It’s not good for morale to dwell on what followed. Gordon Greenidge played one of the more radical innings of Test match cricket, limping throughout. It took the West Indies batsmen just sixty-six overs to reach the target, Greenidge contributing 214 unbeaten runs with twenty nine fours and two sixes. Among England’s shellshocked attack, poor Ian Botham suffered the most, leaking runs at six an over and failing to take a wicket. He wasn’t alone. After Desmond Haynes was dismissed at 57, run out, no further wickets fell. Greenidge and the unsung Larry Gomes, usually considered the one ‘blocker’ in the West Indies team, saw them home.
Why are these events so rare? Well, wickets do deteriorate over five days – and that’s part of the fun of the long game. But that knowledge also contributes to the psychology of the business, and perhaps teams are sometimes already on the back foot when they’re faced with a large target. The Australians will have to do better than their West Indian predecessors to get out of this one, but the ambitions of teams are getting greater with every year that passes!
Close of third day’s play: England 425 and 311 for 6 Australia 215
